French Waterways Trip, 2025

By Mike Cathie

Port in Charmes, Canal des Vosges

Fond memories of a week’s charter on the Canal du Midi (south-western France) back in 2012 were enough to convince, she that needed to be convinced, that a more extended stint on the beautiful French inland waterways could be a good thing.  The opportunity to avoid our Wellington winter and enjoy a full European summer being an added bonus.  Helpful advice was sought from seasoned and enthusiastic WBBC European inland waterway boaters Joe Porebski and Neil Gray.  Purchasing a boat, rather than hiring, was the only economic way of achieving an extended cruise.

The opportunity to purchase an aging but solid ex-hire boat off a local acquaintance was perhaps not the most logical way of going about things, but avoided the cost, delay, and uncertainty of making a trip over to view prospective options. The 10m ‘Karaka’, a 1990 British made Broom Tamaris, had apparently served them well on the French waterways for a dozen or so years, so we took the gamble.

Necessary ICC inland waterways skipper competence certification, requiring both practical and theoretical testing, was gained via membership with the RYA.  Also obtained were necessary insurances and waterway/lock passes (vignettes), both relatively straightforward, and long-stay French visas (180 days), frustratingly complex.

Early May had us arriving at our boating base in the historic port town of St-Jean-de-Losne (Bourgogne-Franche-Compte region).  We were greeted by the sight of Karaka being lifted into the Canal du Bourgogne following winter storage, as pre-arranged.

Launching into the Canal du Bourgogne, St-Jean-de-Losne

With suitcases onboard, and instructions from the Port Master to be off the dock by the following morning, we had to scramble through the on-board storage clutter to de-winter all the systems and find out how everything worked.  Fortunately, we had good written instructions from the previous owner, and then some assistance from Pete, a Kiwi "canaller" mate of Joe’s who we had met earlier in the year and who had just happened past on his bike.  The adjacent ports in the town host a good number of Kiwi canallers, and like most boaters they tend to be helpful sorts.  A local pub hosts Wednesday evening get-togethers.

Back at the helm of a canal boat again after a dozen years, this can’t be too difficult?!  The trusty Nanni diesel fired up first kick, halleluiah!  Helm response in forward direction, well…eventually.  Reverse direction, practically zilch!  But I had been warned, these craft are designed to minimize draft and keep prop and rudder tucked up and protected.  At a relaxing cruising speed of around 4 knots precision handling is perhaps not so critical.

Skipper, Crew and 'Karaka'

In all we spent around 4 months cruising some 1200km of waterway through the NE France regions of Haute Saone, Vosges, Haute Rhin, and Doubs/Jura.  We ended up taking a clockwise circuit, to achieve our aim of returning to base port for wintering at the end of the season.  The preferred anti-clockwise canal routes had progressively closed because of reduced mid-summer navigation depth, so we were now faced with an upstream leg on the mighty Rhine.   Flow rates turned out not to be as daunting as we had expected, probably due to the fantastic continental summer weather we were experiencing.  Several challenging weeks were had in the mid to high 30’s.   

Extended stop-offs included the regional cities and towns of Epinal, Nancy, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Besancon, Dole, and Chalon-sur-Saone, providing more than enough historic sites, museums, art galleries etc. to satisfy the keenest of culture buffs.  

Some of the cruising highlights included :

• The spectacular scenery throughout

• a 15m high lock

• a 4 km long x 5m wide tunnel (a long hour of concentration to keep the ever-wandering Karaka off the sidewalls)

• a 45m high inclined travelling lock

  
  
  

  

  

Plan Incline d’Arzviller. Tunnel fluvial d’Arzviller Route

Inter-connecting French waterway networks have been established over a period of several centuries.  They can be found in many regions, though most are concentrated in the north-east, where some lead into the inland waterways of direct neighbours Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and beyond.  Berthing facilities are available along all the canals and rivers, providing shore power, water and security at reasonable rates.  It is rare that one of these can’t be reached in an average day’s cruising.  Detailed guide books for each region’s waterways highlight where these are located, what facilities are provided, and note key tourist highlights.

All in all it was an amazing experience and we found the French to be very agreeable hosts.